Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1887-02-18

met at R,cnmOnQ last week, was preSlCeu
over BY Robert Beverley, Esq.
THE PLATFORM.
Mr.. Grattan, of Augusta, chairman of
the special committee appointed for tina t
purpose. presented platform for the
adoption of the Assembly. The body pro
ceeded to consider the paper by sections,
and it was, after amendment, adopted as
a whole, and reads as follows:
The oppres,ive taxes now being exacted
from agriculture for the benefit of corpo.
rations and individuals under privileges
obtained from both Federal and state leg
lslation have borne their fruit. The labor
of the farmer no longer meets with its
just return. Whereas during twenty years
of peace our people have been sorely bur-
dened witt war taxes, and are now grOan-
ing under the weight of an OVERLOOKING
Treasury, which surplus is neither held
in the Treasury for the public benefit nor
disbursed in promotion of the general in
terest, but invested in illegal if not i'm
moral appropriation, and financial disas-
ter to this most numerous class Of our
pc pie is imminent it more of the proceeds
of the farm cannot be withheld from the
grasp of monopoly, impeiled by a consci-
BUSINESS of the wrong that has been per.
petrated upon US by the license granted
10y our Government for the benefit of the
privileged few who have obtained such
liceuse, the Farmers of Virginia, through
their representatives. have net In Assem-
bly, to concert measures for their relief;
AID with the view Of obtaining just and
proper legislation to this end both at
Washington and at Richmond, they make
The following declaration of principles,
which should form the basis of such legis
lation
l. That government is trust in which
all the people are beneficiaries; that money
taken by law from the pockets of the
people must and ought to be expended
only for the benefit Of all the people; that
to tax the people for the benefit of class
or individual is but taking public proper
ty for private use, and is but legalized
robbery.
2 That any law passed by Congress the
effect of which is to compel one class Of
our people to buy of another class by pro-
hibitlng the Importation OF foreign goods
necessarily increases the price of the thing
bought to the buyer, and places him in
the power of the seller; that we denounce
all such legislation, beca use Its legitimate
effect is to create and maintain privileged
C asst III the country, and thus to violate
the letter aud spirit of our constitution.
8. That railroads are highways opened
by the laws and authority Of the State for
the convenience and reasonable accommo-
dation of the people OF the State, and are
not made solely for the pleasure or bene-
flt of the corporations who operate them;
that the State in granting such franchises
ae.s as a trnstea for the people of the
State, and as such trustee is bound to see
that the terms of the trust are strictly
carried out, and whenever there is an effort
on the part of such corporation to use
their franchise against the fair interests
of the people of the STATE, then it becomes
the duty OF the State by proper legislation
to interpose for the protection of her peo-
pie. We therefore demand that the legis-
lature of the State shall pass such laws az
will prohibit discrimination by railroads
between localities and individuals, re-
curing the publication of their tariff of
rates, and enforcing these and other
measures of needed relief by ADEQUATE
penalties and agencies.
T. That we endorse the measure lately
passed by Congress known as the Inter
State commerce bill as a step in the rig t
direction, giving the producers and Ship
pers of the country this measure of relief
that the power to discriminate between
persons and localities claimed by railroad
managers, their Hobbies, agents, and attor-
neys, is but another device for taxing one
class for the support of another; that
neither the State nor the Federal Govern
ments possess such power, and are there
fore incapable Of delegatlng it TO the rail.
roads; that the exercise of such power
by the creature of the State Is in effect to
take value from the land and products in
one section and bestow the same value
upon another.
5. We call upon our State Legislature tc
be vigilant in restricting within proper
limitations the charters to be hereafter
granted to corporations; that charters tx
railroad companies should rigidly restrict